Yiddish grammar

The Yiddish Alphabet

There are two scripts used for Yiddish: hand written and printed, both of which use a modified version of the Hebrew script.

When written using the Hebrew script, Yiddish reads from right to left.

This basic Yiddish grammar also transliterates the Yiddish script
letters using the Roman alphabet, and as at heart Yiddish is a Germanic language, this is relatively easy to
do. The transliteration is written from left to right and uses capitals to start sentences and proper nouns.

It uses the transliteration standard as set out by the
YIVO institute.

Adjectives

Adjectives and articles in Yiddish decline. They agree with nouns in gender, number and case.

Adjectives. Singular

Gut

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Nominative

gut -er

gut -e

gut, gut -e

Accusative

gut -n

gut -e

gut -e

Dative

gut -n

gut -er

gut -n

The nominative neuter is gut when preceeded by the indefinite article ('a' or 'an').
Masculine nominative adjectives end in 'er'. This is added to the base form or stem.

Adjectives. Plural

The nominative, accusative and dative endings are the same when modifying any plural noun and end in 'e'.

Examples of adjectival agreement in the plural

The good dogs run fast

Di gute hint loyfn geshvind

די גוטע הינט לױפֿן געשװינד

I saw the red houses

Ikh hob gezen di royte hayzer

איך האָב געזען די רױטע הײַזער

He reads the long books

Er leyent di lange bikher

ער לײענט די לאַנגע ביכער

Sentence Structure

The basic sentence structure is Subject, Verb, Object.

However, the word order is not fixed and can be varied within limits
to change the emphasis and meaning of the sentence. See, for example, these
example sentences.

The Definite Article

The definite article depends on the gender on the noun and whether the noun is the singular or plural.

The singular nominative
and accusative definite article is as follows for 'tate' father, 'mame' mother and 'bukh' book :-

Singular

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Nominative

Der tate

Di mame

Dos bukh

דער טאַטע

די מאַמע

דאָס בוך

Accusative

Dem (Dos) tate

Di mame

Dos bukh

דער (דאָס) טאַטע

די מאַמע

דאָס בוך

Dative

Dem

Der

Dem

In the plural, the definite article is always 'di' regardless of gender or case.

The fathers

Di tates

די טאַטעס

The mothers

Di mames

די מאַמעס

The books

Di bikher

די ביכער

Examples of definite articles in the plural.

I give a present to the children

Ikh gib a matone tsu di kinder

איך גיב אַ מתּנה צו די קינדער

The cars are fast

Di oytos zaynen shnel

די אױטאָס זײַנען שנעל

The books are interesting

Di bikher zaynen interesant

די ביכער זײַנען אינטערעסאַנט

The Indefinite Article

The indefinite article is 'a' or 'an'. 'an' is used before a vowel.

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs (to be able, must, want to, have to) do not need 'tsu' when followed by the infinitive.

Examples of Yiddish modal verbs

I want to speak in Yiddish

Ikh vil redn oyf yidish

איך װיל רעדן אױף

I can visit you next week

Ikh ken dikh bazukhn di kumendike vokh

איך קען דיך באַזוכן די קומענדיקע װאָך

You must visit stay with us

Du zolst vayln bay undz

דו זאָלסט װײַלן בײַ אונדז

Negatives

If the object of the sentence has a definite article (singular or plural), the sentence is made negative by adding 'nit' after the verb.
Similarly where these is no object after the verb.

I have the book

Ikh hob dos bukh

איך האָב דאָס בוך

I do not have the book

Ikh hob nit dos bukh

איך האָב ניט דאָס בוך

I live in London

Ikh voyn in London

איך װױן אין לאָנדאָן

I do not live in London

Ikh voyn nit in London

איך װױן ניט אין לאָנדאָ

Nouns

Yiddish nouns can be one of three genders - masculine, feminine and neuter.

The man, person

masculine

der man

דער מאַ

The woman

feminine

Di froy

די פֿרױ

The book

neuter

Dos bukh

דאָס בוך

Nouns generally do not decline - apart from names and some commonly used exceptions.

Yiddish Nouns. Plural

The plurals of Yiddish nouns must be learnt as the plural ending varies. Endings which are frequently used to
form the plural are 'n', 'en', 's' and 'er'. Further examples of plural nouns with audio are
here.

Most nouns with the ending 'e' have a plural ending in 's'. For example,

Noun

Singular

Plural

The mother

Di mame

Di mames

The grandfather

Der zeyde

Di zeydes

These examples illustrate some of the possible endings and variations of plural Yiddish nouns.

Noun

Singular

Plural

The book

Dos bukh

Di bikher

דאָס בוך

די ביכער

The eye

Dos oyg

Di oygn

דדאָס אױג

די אױגן

The child

Dos kind

Di kinder

דאָס קינד

דדי קינדער

The heart

Dos harts

Di hertser

דאָס הארץ

די הערצער

Possessive Adjectives

These are the possessive form of personal pronouns. Possessive adjectives do not decline - although in the plural and 'e' is added.